Hungary Prime Minister Orban in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during a visit the European leader has branded as a "Peace mission 3.0" after recent trips to Moscow and Kiev.

The unannounced visit comes on Monday, a day before NATO is due to hold a summit to mark its 75th anniversary, with setbacks in Ukraine set to dominate discussions.

Orban was greeted at the airport by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

He later wrote on social media platform X, that China is a key power in creating the conditions for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Earlier, in a short statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said the Hungarian leader would meet Xi "for in-depth communication on issues of mutual interest".

Last October, the Hungarian premier was the sole EU leader to attend the summit for Xi's flagship Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

Despite its small size, the Central European country of 9.6 million people has attracted a flood of major Chinese projects in recent years, mostly related to battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing.

The Hungarian government boasted about having around $16 billion (15 billion euros) worth of ongoing projects originating from the Asian country.

War in Ukraine

Close to both Xi and the Kremlin, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kiev, unlike his fellow EU leaders.

Similarly, Beijing presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

Last week, Orban also held talks with President Vladimir Putin about the war during a trip criticised by both Kiev and the EU, which said it threatened to undermine the bloc's stance on the conflict.

Putin told Orban, that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from regions that Moscow has annexed if it wants peace.

Hungary took over the European Union's rotating presidency at the start of July, and the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Orban's trip to Russia was purely a bilateral affair and he "has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow".